A review by johndiconsiglio
Foe by J.M. Coetzee

4.0

Nobel Laureate Coetzee deconstructs Robinson Crusoe, adding a shipwrecked woman washing up on “Cruso’s” island & author Daniel “De” Foe himself. (He added the pretentious prefix to sound aristocratic.) The slim book is a reflection on truth & fiction—who owns the story of what happened on that island? It’s tempting to read the South African author’s works as apartheid allegories. You can certainly do that here—especially through the enigmatic slave Friday, who literally cannot tell his own story because his tongue has been cut out. Prime Coetzee. But if you’re new to him, start with Disgrace.